A Ruidoso, New Mexico, home was ripped off its foundation and swept away in deadly floodwaters that ravaged the area earlier this week, video shows.
Heavy rains triggered flash floods in the area on Tuesday, July 8, leaving at least three people dead, including two children, according to officials.
In a video shared on social media, Ruidoso resident Kaitlyn Carpenter captured the moment a home was swept downstream.
“A house got taken down the river!!! Please please please be safe everyone!!!” she wrote.
Carpenter told CNN the home belonged to one of her friends and said she was “in absolute shock” when she saw it had been caught in the floodwaters.
“We had saved her house last year from the flood, so to see it just be taken up in the flood was just, it was horrific,” she told CNN. “I have no words. It was so surreal.”
Video shows house being swept away by flash floods
See a home dragged downstream by New Mexico floods
A house in Ruidoso, New Mexico, was torn from its foundation and swept away by raging floodwaters.
3 dead in New Mexico floods, including children
Ruidoso officials said in a statement that the three people who died included one middle-aged man and two children – a 4-year-old girl and a 7-year-old boy. All three individuals were “caught in the rushing floodwaters and carried downstream,” the statement said.
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham also declared a state of emergency in Ruidoso, which is about 180 miles south of Albuquerque, on July 8.
Ruidoso officials said in a statement that the event saw the Rio Ruidoso reach a record-breaking 20 feet, five feet higher than the previous record.
Contributing: Gabe Hauari, USA TODAY
Melina Khan is a national trending reporter for USA TODAY. She can be reached at melina.khan@usatoday.com.
